Give it the silent treatment....

As per Monica Migliorino Miller, "The official trailer for the newly released Martin Scorsese film Silence gives the impression this movie is about missionaries in Japan and how Catholics bravely endured persecution for the sake of the Faith. That however is not the real focus of this very disturbing movie and movie-goers should not be lured into believing they are about to view such a film" (Scorsese’s Silence: Many Martyrs—Little Redemption, Crisis Magazine, 1/9/17).

This film is based on Shusaku Endo's NOVEL of the same name, in which two Jesuits apostasize -  ostensibly to save other people from torture. Yet, they go on to make careers of cooperating in the persecution of still others!  Were the two Jesuits to have been historical characters, it would still leave one wondering why Martin Scorcese felt such a need to bring a tragic and confusing story to the screen.  But again, the two Jesuits were fictional characters out out Endo's imagination.

Very briefly mentioned in Silence is the REAL LIFE Francis Xavier, who was among the original Jesuits in the 16th Century. Saint Francis's experiences in Japan would have made for an immensely more interesting story.